Conjugating the Irregular Spanish Verb Querer (to Want)

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like querer, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

Querer(keh-rehr) (to want) is tricky. In the present tense, it has an e-to-ie stem change in all but the nosotros and vosotros forms. Here’s the present tense conjugation:

The Present Tense of Querer

Conjugation

Translation

yo quiero

Iwant

tú quieres

You(informal)want

él/ella/ello/uno quiere

He/she/onewants

usted quiere

You (formal)want

nosotros queremos

Wewant

vosotros queréis

Youall (informal)want

ellos/ellas quieren

Theywant

ustedes quieren

You all (formal)want

The following examples show you querer in action:

¿Quieres comprarme un teléfono? (Do you want to buy a telephone from me?)

No quiero tu teléfono. (I don’t want your phone.)

Here’s where it starts to get weird. In the preterit, quererhas a few pretty significant irregularities:

It doesn’t really have a stem change so much as it picks up a completely different stem: quis-.

It doesn’t use the same endings as normal -er verbs in the yo and él/usted forms.

It doesn’t even have the same meaning. That’s right: Although querer means to want in the present, in the preterit it means to try.

Got all that? Look carefully at the following table to see all this preterit craziness at work:

The Preterit Tense of Querer

Conjugation

Translation

yo quise

Itried

tú quisiste

You (informal)tried

él/ella/ello/uno quiso

He/she/onetried

usted quiso

You (formal)tried

nosotros quisimos

Wetried

vosotros quisisteis

You all (informal)tried

ellos/ellas quisieron

Theytried

ustedes quisieron

You all (formal)tried

You use the preterit tense like this:

Ella quiso acostarse a las nueve. (She tried to go to bed at 9 p.m.)

Nosotros quisimos cantar. (We tried to sing.)

After all that preterit drama, the imperfect form is a breath of fresh air: In the imperfect, querer conjugates like a regular verb. Check out the following table and examples.

The Imperfect Tense of Querer

Conjugation

Translation

yo quería

I used towant

tú querías

You (informal) used towant

él/ella/ello/uno quería

He/she/one used towant

usted quería

You (formal) used towant

nosotros queríamos

We used towant

vosotros queríais

You all (informal) used towant

ellos/ellas querían

They used towant

ustedes querían

You all (formal) used towant

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

¿Querían ustedes ir a nadar los sábados? (Did you used to want to go swimming on Saturdays?)

Si. Queríamos ir a nadir los sábados. (Yes. We used to want to go swimming on Saturdays.)

But wait! You’re not out of the woods yet. In the future tense, querer undergoes another stem transformation to querr- (the regular stem quer- + another r). However, it still uses the normal future endings:

The Future Tense of Querer

Conjugation

Translation

yo querré

I willwant

tú querrás

You (informal) willwant

él/ella/ello/uno querrá

He/she/one willwant

usted querrá

You (formal) willwant

nosotros querremos

We willwant

vosotros querréis

You all (informal) willwant

ellos/ellas querrán

They willwant

ustedes querrán

You all (formal) willwant

Use the future tense like this:

¿Querrás irte a Europa este verano? (Will you want to go to Europe this summer?)

Sí. Querré irme a Europa contigo. (Yes. I will want to go to Europe with you.)